DATE:
May 19, 2026
02
TO:
Board of Supervisors
SUBJECT
Title
SHERIFF - REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZATION TO ISSUE A COMPETITIVE SOLICITATION FOR DENTAL SERVICES AT DETENTION FACILITIES (DISTRICTS: ALL)
Body
OVERVIEW
The San Diego Sheriff's Office (Sheriff's Office) provides comprehensive health care services, including dental care, to incarcerated persons in custody at the Sheriff's detention facilities as required by Title 15 of the California Code of Regulations. As the incarcerated population needs have changed in complexity, the current dental service model is no longer sufficient to meet demand for timely, restorative, and specialty care. In particular, the absence of on-site or off-site contracted endodontic services, the specialty of treating conditions such as tooth pain, pulp inflammation and infections caused deep decay, trauma or repeated dental procedures, has resulted in preventable dental emergencies, tooth loss, and increased off-site transports that impact facility operations and patient outcomes. In recent years, the Sheriff's Office has enhanced its level of medical and mental health care services to meet the dynamic needs of the populations served and legal obligations, therefore overall medical services have increased to address complex diagnoses and the fundamental shift of health service delivery from ad-hoc acute care services in an ambulatory setting to comprehensive, preventive, and chronic care services in a structured institutional environment.
To address these trends, the Sheriff's Office is seeking to expand the existing onsite patient access to dental health care and to enhance care by including specialty endodontic care. This enhancement would optimize oral health outcomes for the patient population by providing access to tooth restorative services for higher acuity cases and help to preserve natural teeth. The endodontic specialists will be made available to the patient population through contracted providers on-site and thr...
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